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I am using Excel 2010 with a shared workbook. I need the formatting protected, but allow users to edit text and select from drop-down boxes.

Following the instructions in this answer to Protecting the formatting in Excel 2007, I have protected the worksheet and this works with one exception: If I double-click a text-field then its contents are erased. Prior to this, if I double-clicked the field it would allow me to edit the text there without first erasing it.

How do I protect the sheet AND let people edit text in a cell without erasing the entire content of that cell first?

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  • Have you been able to sort this out? May 29, 2015 at 20:49
  • @AlexAtkinson hadn't had the chance to try it. It's at work and I am off today. If I get a chance I will remote in and try, otherwise it will be Monday. Thanks for your help, I look forward to trying your solution. May 29, 2015 at 21:03

2 Answers 2

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The properties of the cell are both 'Locked' and 'Hidden'. Once you uncheck 'hidden', the cell will function as you desire.

If you need more info on permitting users to edit ranges, here's the site I learned from. The answer above isn't there, but many people eventually come across this issue.

http://www.officetooltips.com/excel/tips/allow_specific_users_to_edit_ranges_in_a_protected_worksheet.html

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I'm not sure why double-clicking erases the contents of your text fields

here is what I did and it worked as you'd want it to:

enter image description here

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I followed the same steps as in your link, and it allows me to edit the pre-existing text or numbers in the unlocked cells, and the locked cells remained protected

check to see if your workbook has any VBA code triggered by any events in the Workbook or Worksheet (SelectionChange or BeforeDoubleClick) - if the file has an ".xlsx" extension that's not the issue

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  • Thanks for your answer, and great screenshots however this did not solve my problem. For some reason Hidden was checked on mine already. Once that was unchecked it worked as I expected. Jun 5, 2015 at 15:57
  • Thanks for getting back - it's good to know what the issue was
    – paul bica
    Jun 9, 2015 at 0:59

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